Breaking up with clients–agencies or direct clients–is sometimes painful, but it’s a necessary part of a thriving freelance business: if a client treats you poorly, a breakup is a must. If you’re ready to move on to better-paying or more interesting work, a breakup may be in your best interest. Whatever the case, you want

I say “probably making,” because these are all mistakes that I’ve made along the freelance path–hopefully this post will save you from repeating them! Of course, everyone is at a different stage of freelance financial management; if you answer no, no, and no to these…great. That means you can focus on doing what you actually

When you’re actively looking for new clients, how much marketing is enough? I hear this question frequently, from beginning and experienced translators alike: beginners need more work, while experienced translators need better work. I’ll admit that I often give subjective answers, such as “Until you have as much work as you want,” or “Until you’re

Working as a freelance translator means working in a bit of a vacuum. The upside: no pointy-haired boss! The downside: no on-location colleagues off whom to bounce ideas, and very little feedback on how you’re doing. If you work as an in-house translator, your work is probably reviewed by a senior translator or in-house reviser.

Earlier this year, I decided to expand my usual offering of online business classes for translators (going strong since 2006!) and begin offering translation skills development courses. The inaugural course in that vein was Translation Workshop: French to English, and–thanks to the efforts of the amazing team of instructors, including Michele Hansen, Judy Lyons, Karen

After a thoroughly relaxing month off (well, minus the day that my bike was stolen off our car in Missoula, Montana…but that’s another story!), I’m back in the office as of today. As usual, the complete break from work really cleared my head and gave me some good new perspectives on where I’d like my

I’m excited to announce that my Fall 2018 lineup of online courses is open for registration. After 12 years of offering only business development classes for translators, I decided to expand my course offerings into translation technique classes, and the inaugural session of Translation Workshop: French to English ran in May and June. Thanks to

If your schedule is anything like mine, summer = all aboard the crazy train, when it comes to time management and getting things done. Between trips, kids out of school, picnics, weeding, making sure that the cat has enough of his favorite food before the house-sitter comes, AND many of my Europe-based clients trying to

This is a guest post by Rachel Sinn, a Spanish to English medical and pharmaceutical translator based in Colorado. I asked Rachel to write a post on her experiences managing her freelance business since giving birth to her first baby eight months ago. Specifically, Rachel has managed to juggle motherhood and freelancing while using little

Thanks very much to readers of this blog who have recently informed me about thinly-veiled rewrites of my blog posts appearing on the blog of One Hour Translation. This dates back to the summer of 2017, when OHT’s CEO responded to me about this issue, blaming outsourced writers hired by OHT and assuring me that

Freshly pressed: Finding and Marketing to Translation Agencies. Available in print, PDF, and Kindle formats

Search Thoughts on Translation

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're OK with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. To view this website's privacy policy, click About>Privacy Policy. AcceptRead More